• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Events
  • Civic Ed
  • Campaign Finance
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • Independent Voter News
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Balance of Power>
  3. protecting our democracy act>

Now's the time for a cross-partisan push to stop future abuse of presidential power

Soren Dayton
Cerin Lindgrensavage
March 15, 2021
Donald Trump

Some of the proposals in PODA respond directly to vulnerabilities in presidential power exploited by the Trump administration, according to Dayton and Lindgrensavage.

Joe Raedle/Getty Image

Dayton is a policy advocate and Lindgrensavage is a counsel at Protect Democracy, a nonprofit group advocating for policies that "prevent our democracy from declining into a more authoritarian form of government." Dayton once worked for a GOP House member and Lindgrensavage for a Democratic senator.


Imagine this: The conduct of the previous presidential administration has crystallized the need for Congress to reassert its constitutional authority as a check on the executive branch.

The year is 2021, to be sure. But it was also 1974. In the wake of the Watergate scandal, lawmakers of both parties acted to address weaknesses in federal laws and government institutions that Richard Nixon had either created himself or exposed.

Nearly half a century later the Protecting Our Democracy Act, a package of good-government reforms first proposed by Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California in September, aims to take similar steps toward restoring guardrails on executive power. The legislation is on course for a reintroduction in the House this month.

To raise awareness about the bill and advocate for its passage, experts from half a dozen democracy reform advocacy groups from across the political spectrum have written pieces touting its various virtues. These will appear in the Opinion section of The Fulcrum in coming weeks.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

These individual analyses do not constitute an endorsement of the full package. What they demonstrate in combination, rather, is how the multifaceted measure draws from ideas proposed by Republicans and Democrats alike — and how Congress' constitutional prerogatives, not ideology, explain why they fit together.

The Protecting Our Democracy Act, which also goes by the acronym PODA, tackles a dozen different topics:

  • Limiting the president's pardon power.
  • Extending the deadline for prosecuting former presidents and vice presidents for federal crimes before or during their time in office.
  • Enforcing the constitutional ban on presidents using the office to enrich themselves.
  • Boosting enforcement of congressional subpoenas.
  • Reasserting Congress' power of the purse.
  • Mandating disclosure of contacts between the White House and Justice Department.
  • Strengthening protections for inspectors general.
  • Strengthening protections for federal whistleblowers.
  • Ensuring the Senate's say in confirming executive branch officials.
  • Bolstering enforcement of the Hatch Act.
  • Preventing foreign interference in elections.
  • Clarifying federal prohibitions on foreign assistance to campaigns.

Some of the proposals respond directly to vulnerabilities in presidential power exploited by the Trump administration, treating those abuses as lessons from which the need for reform must be learned.

It will remain difficult to hold future presidents accountable for violating the Emoluments Clause, the Constitution's ban on presidential profiteering, or attempting to sway the independence of the Justice Department, for example, without Congress creating mechanisms to guarantee such accountability.

Some of the proposals have a history of bipartisan backing — or began as Republican ideas. The provision to strengthen congressional control over the allocation of federal funds, for example, resembles a bill by Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah that the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee approved last year on an 11-2 vote. And improving protections for inspectors general and federal whistleblowers has been a longstanding priority of the most senior GOP senator, Chuck Grassley of Iowa..

The Protecting Our Democracy Act meets this current moment in two important ways.

First, it is the right response, and it is similar to a past, successful response in the aftermath to a similar period in our history. After Nixon's resignation, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers understood how his behavior had exposed weaknesses in the system of checks and balances that constrains presidential power, and they responded by enacting laws such as the Privacy Act and the Inspector General Act.

The parallels to today are now widely acknowledged by experts on the right, left and center. Trump "has revealed that the presidency is due for an overhaul for accountability akin to the 1974 reforms," Jack Goldsmith, an assistant attorney general in the George W. Bush administration, told the New York Times. (He and a White House counsel during the Obama administration, Robert Bauer, have come up with their own set of ideas for recalibrating the balance of power.)

Second, PODA responds to increasing numbers of lawmakers asking why their branch is so ineffective relative to the executive and the judiciary. Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, a frequent observer of this development, spent part of his time during last month's confirmation hearing for Attorney General Merrick Garland offering his views.

"I think it's a mix of overreach by Article II and underreach by Article I," he said, adding that it's not "as if everything that's wrong is chiefly outside the Congress, because I think we're probably chiefly to blame."

The Protecting Our Democracy Act gives Congress an opportunity to retake some of its authority and live up to its responsibility.

Ensuring the proper checks and balances between the executive and legislative branches is an ongoing obligation of Congress. But it hasn't kept pace in recent years with the expansion of presidential power or deterred presidents of both parties from exceeding — even abusing — their authority.

This House bill is a big first step on the path to catching up. The fact that Democrats are going to introduce this package when the president is a member of their party should not escape notice. Nor should the repeated instances of Republicans who have voiced concerns and floated measures about the relationship between the president and Congress. The opportunity to bring Republicans and Democrats together to act is now.

From Your Site Articles
  • How Trump is turning the American presidency into a dictatorship ›
  • Common Cause to keep fighting for voting rights in 2021 - The Fulcrum ›
  • RepresentUs keeps up fight to pass HR 1, stop gerrymandering ... ›
  • What a Democratic sweep would mean for democracy reform - The ... ›
  • Congress must reclaim its power over the purse - The Fulcrum ›
  • Reforms to renew America for the 21s century - The Fulcrum ›
  • It's time for a cross-partisan vision - The Fulcrum ›
  • 15 federal watchdog roles remain vacant - The Fulcrum ›
  • A history and explanation of the Hatch Act - The Fulcrum ›
  • Banning stock trading is first step in cleaning up Congress - The Fulcrum ›
  • The first step in dumping Trump - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • PROTECTING OUR DEMOCRACY ACT: SECTION-BY-SECTION ›
  • Protecting Our Democracy Act (2017; 115th Congress H.R. 356 ... ›
  • Statement in Support of the Protecting Our Democracy Act | Brennan ... ›
  • HR8363 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): Protecting Our Democracy Act ›
protecting our democracy act

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

Reform in 2023: Leadership worth celebrating

Layla Zaidane

Two technology balancing acts

Dave Anderson

Reform in 2023: It’s time for the civil rights community to embrace independent voters

Jeremy Gruber

Congress’ fix to presidential votes lights the way for broader election reform

Kevin Johnson

Democrats and Republicans want the status quo, but we need to move Forward

Christine Todd Whitman

Reform in 2023: Building a beacon of hope in Boston

Henry Santana
Jerren Chang
latest News

Ask Joe: The hope for a new global unity

Joe Weston
24 March

Using bridging tools to improve workplace productivity and retention

Joan Blades
24 March

Podcast: Talkin' Politics & Religion Without Killin' Each Other: Barbara McQuade

Our Staff
24 March

Political brain fog

Lawrence Goldstone
23 March

Sounding the alarm over TDS

Lynn Schmidt
23 March

Podcast: Redefining conservatism for millennials

Our Staff
23 March
Videos

Video: Ted Lasso cast at the White House press briefing

Our Staff

Video: The hidden stories in the U.S. Census

Our Staff

Video: We asked conservatives at CPAC what woke means

Our Staff

Video: DeSantis, 18 states to push back against Biden ESG agenda

Our Staff

Video: A conversation with Tiahna Pantovich

Our Staff

Video: What would happen if Trump was a third-party candidate in 2024?

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Talkin' Politics & Religion Without Killin' Each Other: Barbara McQuade

Our Staff
24 March

Podcast: Redefining conservatism for millennials

Our Staff
23 March

Podcast: Break out of your bubble: Talk to a stranger

Our Staff
22 March

Podcast: Inequitable ability: Electoral and civic challenges faced by those with disabilities

Our Staff
21 March
Recommended
Video: Ted Lasso cast at the White House press briefing

Video: Ted Lasso cast at the White House press briefing

Comedy
Ask Joe: The hope for a new global unity

Ask Joe: The hope for a new global unity

Pop Culture
Using bridging tools to improve workplace productivity and retention

Using bridging tools to improve workplace productivity and retention

Big Picture
Podcast: Talkin' Politics & Religion Without Killin' Each Other: Barbara McQuade

Podcast: Talkin' Politics & Religion Without Killin' Each Other: Barbara McQuade

Podcasts
Political brain fog

Political brain fog

Big Picture
Sounding the alarm over TDS

Sounding the alarm over TDS

Threats to democracy